So today we celebrated the historical event of a person appearing in this world and having a birth, a practice, and a great realization, and a great liberation. and then many years of teaching and a passing out of this world, the life of the Buddha. But there is also a teaching that This historical scenario is actually an illusion.

[01:07]

And really Buddhas do not appear in the world, renounce the world, attain the way, teach and pass away. But actually the Buddha is eternal and is always present and never changes. And there is a a teaching that the Buddha has different bodies. One body is this body of illusion, a body of transformation, which appears and disappears in history.

[02:21]

And there's another body the body of truth, the body of suchness, which doesn't appear or disappear, which doesn't come and go, which doesn't increase or decrease. We hear living creatures in order to really be happy, we must, in a sense, straddle the threshold between these two bodies. We straddle the threshold and peacefully rest in the dynamic tension between a Buddha that appears and disappears and a Buddha that does not appear or disappear.

[03:44]

Sashin is a time to settle into this paradox or this contradiction between these two Buddha bodies. To find a way to rest and accept this dynamic reality without veering off into one side or the other. In one sense, we must, now that we've been born, we must renounce the world completely. We must practice intensely and with no reservation or holding out. We must give ourselves entirely to the practice of meditation.

[04:54]

And we must attain the way and teach and we must die. In another sense, on the other side, we don't have to do anything. The way we actually are right now is all we have to be. And the way we are right now includes this tension between these two sides, between these two bodies of Buddha, the body of truth, the Dharmakaya, and the body of illusion, or the body of transformation, the Nirmanakaya. And if we can wholeheartedly sit with this dynamic and be balanced there, we will be rewarded by the third body of Buddha, which is called the body of bliss or the body of reward, the Sambhogakaya Buddha.

[06:14]

Someone asked me a few days ago, of all things, what is enlightenment? And what came to mind is when Master Yuen Mun was asked that question. Well, he was asked, what is the teaching of the Buddha's lifetime? And he said, an appropriate response. Actually, that's not what came to mind. What came to mind was that enlightenment is being able to do whatever is helpful to people and to have no reservation, hesitation, or resistance to doing that.

[08:52]

or put it the other way, to have no resistance or reservation of doing whatever is helpful to people and also knowing what to do, knowing what's appropriate. And this person said that sometimes when he meets people there's no problem in being willing to help them naturally she feels she wants to help them whatever they need she's happy to do there's some other people she doesn't really ever want to see again

[09:56]

And if they need something, it's not really much of a concern to her and she doesn't care much whether they get it or not, especially from her. And I said... There may be some reason when you meet certain people that you'd rather be somewhere else. And that your feeling of disgust or dislike, that there may be something appropriate about that. In fact, if you think when you're with certain people that you should feel differently, that too is a certain feeling that you have, and there's some reason for that.

[11:13]

If you're practicing Buddhism and some situation arises, and you feel disgust about it, especially if it's a living being, you may feel, given that you're supposed to love all beings, that this is not appropriate. So we would have the idea then that we often would have the idea that a Buddha would be someone who was never disgusted by anything. A Buddha would never look at some situation and say, that's hell.

[12:27]

But if a person comes up to you and has a big sign in their hand which says, There's some reason why they're holding that sign up to you. If somebody comes up to you and presents something real stinky, there's some reason for that. You could say, I mean I'm not saying the reason, but one reason could be that this situation is a miracle and a miraculous appearance to test your awakening, also to help your awakening be realized by this circumstance, this ridiculous, outrageous appearance.

[14:12]

And maybe the appropriate response is to feel disgust. There is a Buddha body which doesn't come or go, increase or decrease. There is a Buddha body which doesn't go yuck to anything. There is a Buddha body that is eternal and unchanging. And because of that,

[15:24]

There's another Buddha body which can say or feel, yuck. For the practitioner, for the human being, can you straddle a threshold between the unchanging eternal Buddha and the Buddha right now that has this form. On one side, we have to maintain these forms of Zen here at the Zen center.

[16:53]

And we don't have to maintain the forms of Catholicism or Judaism. But we sort of have to maintain the forms and traditions of Zen here. We also have to go beyond the forms of Zen and not be attached to them. I wish we had a better word for it, but when we get attached to the forms of Zen practice, this has sometimes been called by Zen teachers, Hinayana. This Hinayana doesn't mean some people in Southeast Asia. Hinayana means that when Zen practitioners get stuck in Zen forms, or even when almost, maybe I won't go that far, I was going to say when, I'll just leave it, I'll make it easier on you.

[18:11]

It's when Zen students get stuck in Zen forms, like stuck in following the schedule, stuck in sitting up straight, stuck in not moving. stuck in all the little forms we have here. That's called the narrow path. We have these forms. The forms are not the narrow path. Getting stuck in them is the narrow path. And when you're stuck in the narrow path, if somebody messes around with a narrow path, then you should say, yuck, because you're stuck. And if you're stuck and you don't say yuck when somebody messes with your narrow path, you're just lying. Could I have some water, please?

[19:16]

Tap water? Tap water? Actually, you know, there's some water in a thermos in the office. Now, if the forms here at Zen Center, you're practicing them and you're maintaining them, but you're not stuck, that's not Hinayana. And then if somebody tries to mess with them, you won't say, yuck. You'll say, oh, you want to change them? Well, let's discuss it. Okay, let's change the schedule. Or you don't have to follow the schedule. Or I don't have to follow the schedule. You can slouch a little bit. That's fine. That's cute, actually. So we have the form. Nice forms. And we're not attached to them.

[20:18]

We adapt to them what's an appropriate way for people so that it works for people, so it's beneficial. This is called the big vehicle. And this doesn't refer to some people in China or Japan. It refers to an adaptive, compassionate way of relating to the forms of practice. And there's many other big vehicles, little vehicles. There's also no vehicles. There's one vehicle. There's indestructible vehicles.

[21:27]

There's you've already got it vehicle. There's you'll never get it vehicle. There's many vehicles. How to balance these different approaches at different times appropriately. Sometimes it is appropriate to not only have a form, but maintain it strongly, strictly, and get stuck in it. Sometimes that's what's necessary, is to be stuck in a form.

[22:29]

And when somebody tries to change it, you say, no, no, no, you can't change it. You cannot change this form. We're not going to change it. Sometimes that's appropriate. Often it's not. I don't know exactly the percentages. At Zen Center, sometimes people want to change the forms. Like, for example, they want to have, let's say, for example, they want to have less meditation. So then, when I hear about that, I say, oh no, we need to have more meditation. I don't do that just to make trouble. I really feel that way. Like they're trying to eliminate it so they can do more of something else.

[23:33]

But on the rare occasion, which often happens at Tassajara, where people want to have more meditation than we have now, then I often feel like, no, I think we should have less meditation. And again, I don't do that just to make trouble. I really feel that way. I feel like, mm-mm, doesn't seem... Sometimes we should get stuck. Sometimes we should be stuck. Anyway, sometimes whether we should or shouldn't, sometimes we are stuck in the forms. And when people try to change them, we resist. We feel uncomfortable. We don't like it. And given that we're stuck, the appropriate response is to resist. That's what helps somebody at that moment. When we're not stuck and we're just maintaining the form with a relaxed and gentle attitude, then it wouldn't be appropriate to resist and be stuck because you're not.

[24:41]

So the question is, when is the narrow way appropriate and when is the big, universal way appropriate? When do we have to do just like Shakyamuni Buddha did, in a way? And when do we remember that we don't have to do anything? This dynamic understanding is where all Buddha's teachings live. This is the source of all Buddha's teachings. It's hard for us human beings to live in such a dynamic, intense place. We want to veer off into Hinayana or Mahayana

[25:56]

We want to veer off into the body of truth or the body of transformation. The body of transformation is really wonderful, but we must remember that the body of transformation, all these forms, all the stories of the past Buddhas are just necklaces and bracelets and earrings and pop-knots and lovely sandals and garter belts on the body of the body of truth. And the body of truth allows all these wonderful ornaments and adornments to appear in the world for us to enjoy. But the reason they're so enjoyable is because of what they're adorning. On the other hand, if they didn't appear, we'd never be able to see what's being adorned. So the bliss of practice comes from seeing these forms adorning something we can't see.

[27:08]

And how you take care of these adornments, how you take care of these clothings and these jewels which bedecked this ungraspable body of truth, how you take care of it is your understanding. How you take care of your body, how you take care of others' bodies, how you take care of your bowls, how you take care of your cushion, how you take care of everything, demonstrates your understanding that this is the formal, expression of the truth. What I would like to do is

[28:22]

study the three pure cumulative precepts as a way of showing these three bodies of Buddha before I get to talking about this and while I'm talking about this and after I finish I hope that you all will stay concentrated on the Buddha or on Buddha which has these three bodies. I hope that you think about Buddha all the time and that when I start talking about this you don't get distracted

[29:35]

So please focus on this Buddha without any idea of what it is or where it is, which means you can have as many ideas as you want about where it is or what it is, but don't let any of those ideas reach it. Looking at the altar now, it looks like Shakyamuni Buddha is the child of Manjushri Bodhisattva. Looks like Manjushri Bodhisattva is Shakyamuni's mom. I didn't, you know, intend to set it up that way. It just looks like that. And this is in accord with Buddhist teaching. Manjushri is the mother of the Buddhas. Manjushri is also the father of the Buddhas. And Manjushri is also

[30:43]

the attendant and child of the Buddhas. According to what I've heard, each of you has already been the mother of innumerable Buddhas. You have been the mother of innumerable Buddhas and you have been the father of innumerable Buddhas. We are also the children of Buddhas. We are the husbands of Buddhas. We are the wives of Buddhas. Please concentrate on this relationship that you have with all sentient beings, past, present and future, the relationship that you have been their parents in the past and their children in the past and their spouses in the past.

[32:18]

Please stay concentrated on this close relationship that we have which we can't see sometimes. Sometimes we can see it. Then we realize it's a miracle. But it is hard to stay focused on that simple relationship that we have, especially when people make certain kinds of faces. We're so attuned to each other that when people make certain kinds of faces, we completely forget that we love them. Even our own children, even our own spouses, even our own parents, when they make, just to change the expression of the skin, on the front of their head, and we suddenly forget that we love them, and we think they hate us.

[33:37]

And then the face changes in another way, the skin changes in another way, and the eyes seem to be different. And suddenly we remember we love them, and we remember how beautiful they are, and we're overwhelmed. and our heart opens and we feel so good. And then the face changes again and the heart closes and we hate them. Now, is this an appropriate response? I think so. Wouldn't it be a terrible world if you made horrible faces at people? And they all just sort of glowed back at you. There are situations like that. These are called, what are these called? These are called the benign forms of Buddha. But they're useless.

[34:44]

Well, pretty much useless. But somehow, anyway, that's what they do. They just sort of smile no matter what you do. I knew this person, this young person. I watched this person grow up. And at a certain age, this person learned how to talk. And this person started to say things to me like, I hate you. And my response, whether it was appropriate or not anyway, my response was, I usually just laugh. I didn't feel like I was laughing in a derisive, demeaning way, like, who do you think you are? You think your hatred could bother me?

[35:46]

I didn't feel like that. I felt like, look, I remember that when you vomited in my face, it smelled like ambrosia. There's nothing you can do which is going to bother me Everything you do is lovely, is a miracle. But at a certain point, I realized that this person was very upset and felt disrespected by the fact that when hatred was expressed towards me, I always just said, I always just laughed or thought it was cute. And I really didn't feel like I was being disrespectful. It just didn't bother me. Because I knew that this hatred would go and something else would come. And I saw, I've seen it come and go so many times, I don't really take it as real. But recently, this person has found another way.

[36:54]

And now what she says gets to me. And now she feels good. Finally I don't laugh anymore. It's funny, huh? Finally she was successful. This is part of it too. Even though it's silly that a person's facial expressions change our complexion from white to rosy red, this must happen sometimes. And I told the story of my first turning towards Zen many times.

[38:03]

of when the Zen monk was strongly criticized, he said, is that so? And when he was strongly praised, he said, is that so? But for me, if he didn't get upset when he was criticized, and if he didn't turn all rosy and warm when he was praised, then the is that so would not be encouraging to me. When someone screams in your face, your face naturally tenses up. Not always, maybe, but usually. When I was around Suzuki Roshi's body, I didn't feel like I should cry.

[39:12]

But everyone was crying, so this person did too. When someone whispers softly certain things, naturally your cheeks get warm and you relax. But in either case, we straddle the gate and we say, is that so? In other words, we remember Buddha no matter what. No matter what happens and also no matter what our response, we remember.

[40:19]

So things are happening and we're responding. This is set up and will continue. Can we stay focused all the time on this dynamic place where all the Buddha's teachings live, where all their practices thrive, and where all their ways come from? Can we stay focused on this? And in my head what comes is, why not?

[41:28]

Or, sure. Or, I'll try. Or, maybe. And also, gee, that would be hard. And what also comes up is it's raining and cold outside, and do you have anything better to do? And if so, I'd like to hear about it. Be our intention.

[42:16]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_94.43